Hansen Packing coming to Alton

Published
3:59 pm CDT, Thursday, June 4, 2015

ALTON — Jerseyville’s Hansen Packing Company is set to add a retail location in Alton.

Ryan Hansen, president of the meat packing business, said the company is hoping to have a retail store open at the site of the former Colonial Bakery retail location sometime this summer. The store will share a parking lot with Old Bakery Beer Company, which owns the former retail building as well.

Hansen said he became aware of the opportunity after his company began supplying Old Bakery Beer with pork butts and H&B hams for their food menu. After talking with Old Bakery owner James Rogalsky, the wheels were set in motion.

“I approached him and told him my vision and plan for a retail meat shop and he was very enthused and excited about the idea,” Hansen said. “We went ahead and pushed forward. Now we’re in the planning stages of getting the building remodeled and ready to open hopefully in the next two to three months.”

The shop will be much like the 2,000-square-foot retail shop the company opened in Jerseyville in 2013. Hansen said it will have a 24-foot-long fresh butcher case, reach-in freezers and other cases stocked with Hansen’s award-winning meats, recipes and H&B line.

The hope is to have the store ready and open by June 1, Hansen said, but it’s not a hard deadline.

“Obviously, not knowing some surprises that could pop up along the remodel, there’s always some hidden problems that you don’t see until you dig them up,” Hansen said. “So we’re hoping it doesn’t take any longer than two to three months. Since the building is already present, we just need to go in and do some subtle changes to get it ready so it’s a really nice storefront and interior space for meat processing or a retail shop.”

Hansen Packing vice president Beth Arrowsmith will run the day to day operations of the retail store, Hansen said. The company will also look to hire three or four meat cutters and another three or four retail workers for the location. In that way, Hansen said he hopes to bring some work to Alton as well as some quality meats.

“Hopefully we’ll be bringing another 6-to-10 jobs to the local economy as well,” Hansen said.

The store will be open seven days per week. For more information on Hansen Packing Company, call 618-498-3714.